The present invention relates to a warmer and a refrigerator designed for use on an automobile which respectively utilize the heat absorbed by engine cooling water and the car air conditioner coolant to respectively maintain suitable high and low temperatures therein.
Patent ZL93247685.6 titled "Warmer and Refrigerator for Use on Automobiles" granted to the inventor discloses a warmer which has a hot chamber using hot water from a radiator of an automobile to keep an interior of the hot chamber at a suitable high temperature and a refrigerator which has a cold chamber being wound by extended coolant pipe of the automobile to keep an interior of the cold chamber at a suitable low temperature. Whereby, food, drink, towels, etc. can be stored in the warmer or the refrigerator on the automobile for use by a driver and passengers on the automobile at any time.
Following drawbacks are found in the warmer and refrigerator for use on automobiles disclosed in Patent ZL93247685.6:
1. The hot chamber has a heating pipe system which utilizes and leads heat-absorbed cooling water from the automobile's radiator into the warmer via a water inlet pipe and then out of the warmer via a water outlet pipe. And, the cold chamber has a cooling pipe system which is connected to the coolant pipe of an air-conditioning compressor of the automobile and includes a coolant inlet pipe and a coolant outlet pipe. The water inlet and outlet pipes and the coolant inlet and outlet pipes are wound about inner containers of the hot chamber and the cold chamber, respectively, to form two discrete single-pipe spiral passages. Thus, water flowing into and out of the heating pipe system of the hot chamber must cycle back to the cooling water pipe connected to the radiator of the automobile, and coolant flowing into and out of the cooling pipe system of the cold chamber must cycle back to the coolant pipe of the air-conditioning compressor of the automobile. Under this condition, the water outlet pipe and the coolant outlet pipe must first extend across the spiral pipe passages respectively formed from the water inlet pipe and the coolant inlet pipe before they can extend downward to go parallelly and side by side with the water inlet pipe and the coolant inlet pipe, respectively, to the cooling water pipe and the coolant pipe. This will, of course, need more material and space for the pipes while the mounting of such pipes are difficult.
2. The single-pipe spiral passages separately winding about inner container of the hot chamber and the cold chamber contact with outer walls of these inner containers at only several turns of coil areas. There are large spaces left between every two turns of these coil areas. Thus, outer walls of the inner containers of the hot and the cold chambers can have only limited absoption areas to absorb and dissipate heat, respectively. Therefore, the warmer and the refrigerator disclosed in Patent ZL93247685.6 are not efficient in terms of the utilization of energy.
3. The hot chamber and the cold chamber are two chambers formed in an integral housing. The housing must be formed by making a mold first and must be machined, fabricated, and installed with pipes after it is formed. These procedures are time consuming and require high manufacturing cost.
4. The hot and cold chambers are provided with covers that can be lifted and opened relative to the chambers by an angle from 90 to 110 degrees. Covers being lifted to this angle relative to the chambers tend to easily and unexpectedly fall down when they are touched by someone and will very possibly pinch and injure a user's fingers extending into the chambers for something in the chambers.
5. The hot and the cold chambers disclosed in Patent ZL93247685.6 can only be used to store canned drinks or towels. Drinking water can not be directly stored in the chambers for use in a convenient manner.
Therefore, it is tried by the inventor to develop an improved automobile warmer and refrigerator to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks existed in the conventional warmer and refrigerator for use on automobiles, whereby the automobile warmer and refrigerator is more practical in use and has increased added value and enhanced product image in the market.